Gateway To Space

Last year, I signed up for the 5th annual Gateway To Space 10K race, which is ran on the old Space Shuttle landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center. Due to COVID issues, the race was postponed from early March to today.

After completing the Space Coast Half Marathon in late November 2020, I was ready to take a break from running. I figured I would run a little here and there in December, then get focused again to prepare for this race. But then the race was postponed. Along with it went my motivation to start running again. As winter turned to spring, then summer arrived, getting outside and running in the increasing humidity gets harder to do. I managed a few runs, but nothing consistent.

About eight weeks ago, I created a training plan on my Garmin watch and started running three days a week. The initial runs were pretty simple. For example, walk five minutes, then run one minute; repeat three times. No problem. The following week, the run time was upped to two minutes. This was more difficult, but not too bad. Then it upped to three minutes, then five minutes, then seven minutes. Each of these increases was too difficult for me to achieve. Meanwhile, both Andrew and Susan got sick, so I was left to run on my own. Let me tell you, it is a lot easier to run when you have partners to hold you accountable.

The weekend of the race arrived and I knew I wasn’t ready to run a 10K race; not by a long shot. I thought, well maybe I can switch to the 5K race and walk it with Susan and Andrew. So, that became the plan. We stopped at The Running Zone last night and picked up our packages, which included a T-shirt and a number. We were ready to go.

This morning, the alarm went off at 4:30 AM and we started getting ready. I took a shower, got dressed, and had a protein shake and a snack bar. Once Susan and Andrew were ready, we drove to the Kennedy Space Center in the dark. We arrived at 6:00. We would have been a little sooner, but there was no routing information for how to get from the entrance to the main parking lot. It seemed like every possible option was either blocked by cones or was one way the other way. Finally, I ended up going down a one way road the wrong way, then zig zagged between some poles. Sometimes you need to improvise. So much for being a positive role model for my son, who will soon be learning to drive.

We boarded a NASA bus and rode to the landing strip. The race was scheduled to start at 8:00, so we had a bit of time to kill. We explored the area, watched the sun rise, stretched, explored some more; you get the idea. During this time, I found a race official and asked if I could switch from the 10K to the 5K. She noted my bib number and said she’d take care of it.

Around 7:30, the announcer got on the PA and started talking about the plans for the race. Then she handed the microphone to a trainer, who led the crowd in a big, group stretch. And then they played the National Anthem and we lined up to start the race.

The race started a minute or two after 8:00. It was still relatively cool, with a nice breeze blowing from the North. We ran a little, then walked a little. I created mini challenges, like run to the next 500 foot runway marker. We continued this to the turnaround point, then turned back toward the finish line. By now, it was getting pretty warm and the nice cool breeze was gone. We continued the mini challenges all the way down the runway. Finally, we turned onto the taxiway toward the finish line. I wanted to run the final tenth mile, and Andrew joined me. As we neared the finish line, a group of three people were in front of us, so I slowed down so I could allow the photographer to get a clear picture of us. Andrew did not slow down. So, for the first time, Andrew completed the race ahead of me.

Mystery boxes leaving the on ramp

After the race, we got our medals, grabbed a water bottle and a snack, then waited for the buses to start taking racers back to the parking lot. We climbed aboard the second bus and started our ride back. About the time we would normally get on the main road, we were greeted by NASA police. They said that we couldn’t continue up the on ramp. The driver, after a brief discussion, told us that KSC is an active space launch facility and things are always happening. The new plan was to take a more scenic route around the facilities while the wide loads used the ramp. As a result, we got to see some things that no other tour group gets to see. When we returned to the ramp, we saw two wide loads. The first looked to me like a box containing a UFO. The second clearly belonged to Blue Origin. Who knows what they actually contained.

David, Susan, and the new Delta II rocket

Back at the Visitor Center, Andrew took a picture of me and Susan, standing near the rocket garden, with the latest entry in the frame. NASA recently added the Delta II rocket, which is the second rocket from the right.